It's on the west side of 28th between Arapahoe and Canyon, in the same strip mall with Video Station. The woman I got didn't know anything about the Tivo series 3, but she knew what cable cards were and wasn't confused about anything. I even asked if there was an extra charge to get HD, and she said no.

Now what do I do with this COOL Series 3 that I have in my grubby little hands until next Friday!? I just installed the batteries in the remote.

Plug an antenna into the jack and pick up local ATSC channels?

I'm hoping to hear some news somewhere about Comcast in Jacksonville, Florida. I don't want to order an S3 until I know what their situation is, and I don't want to call until I have an S3. Every time I talk to them, my blood pressure spikes. It's not healthy.

I went by the Comcast office (Leeds Ave/Belle Oaks Drive) in N. Charleston inquiring about updating to the Digital Gold Advantage plan since I also get internet service through Comcast.

At first they quoted it would be $14.95 a card but I pointed out that the package included the digital converter box so I shouldn't be charged for the first cablecard since I wouldn't be needing the converter box. The result is this:

$29.95 install
First cablecard free (included in Digital Gold package)
2nd Cablecard $6.95
Plus with the cablecards since they receive HD no additional $5 for HD.

I also have to compliment the Customer Service Rep to call and get it right without me having to complain too hard.

It seems to depend on who you talk to. I am waiting for a call back from a manager who was going to check with her supervisor. Not holding my breath.

Called 800-comcast and was told "We don't have cable cards for tivo and we can't provide them to you". "We do have cable cards for TV's and those we can get for you." I cited all the comments on this forum and she said I just talked to my supervisor and that is the answer. I said "Give me two of those TV cards".

When she was setting up the appointment, she commented that she could get in trouble for sending the tech out for a cable card installation for a TIVO. So she had to make it for a TV install.

$16.00 installation. Has to be installed by the tech. Cards are not available locally. Install date the 23rd of Sept.

Why the different policies and answers in different market areas? I can understand flucuation in prices, but some seem rather extreme from free to $20 something a month.

Am I correct in thinking that the TV card will be usable as a cable card in the Tivo?
Do I need to call Comast back and cancel? Do I take back the S3 to Best Buy that I just picked up at lunchtime?

Best Buy just got them in today and hadn't even put them on the shelf or made a sign for them. $870.00 out the door including tax. Checked with Circuit City and they said they won't be getting them in until mid October. This is at the Southcenter shopping mall in case anyone from Seattle area wants to know.

Called Comcast's 1-800 number yesterday. $16.95 trip charge, no charge for either cable card and no monthly fee. Also returning the POS Motorola box is no hassle, the tech will pick it up when he arrives next Friday.

You should be able to go into one of the Comcast offices (Redmond or North Seattle) to pick up your cable cards in person. Other people have said they've done that, and I've never had any problem picking up or dropping of stuff at the stores around here. They're much more lax about it than most other markets.

Since their pricing and packages vary, I'm not surprised that this does.

Remember that Comcast is, in large part, a bunch of old regional MSOs cobbled together, and in some ways isn't totally integrated.

In SOME ways? As far as I can tell from this thread and others on Comcast, they're not the least bit integrated. Frankly, I can't understand the economics of having to keep a zillion different pricing schemes active.

This issue alone is almost enough to keep me from buying a series three and dropping D*. I do admit they have inconsistant customer retention policies but what you buy generally costs the same no matter where you are.

You should be able to go into one of the Comcast offices (Redmond or North Seattle) to pick up your cable cards in person. Other people have said they've done that, and I've never had any problem picking up or dropping of stuff at the stores around here. They're much more lax about it than most other markets.

I tried finding a local number for one of their local offices (Tacoma or Auburn) but could only find the 1-800 number. Maybe I'll just pop by tomorrow and see if I can fenagle a couple of cable cards from them. :-)

Am I correct in thinking that the TV card will be usable as a cable card in the Tivo?
Do I need to call Comast back and cancel? Do I take back the S3 to Best Buy that I just picked up at lunchtime?

From what I understand, cablecards are cablecards. Their aren't any specific to TV's or DVR's. When I called yesterday and told the lady on the phone that I needed two for my new TiVo, she didn't even flinch, just set the appointment. I guess it just goes to show you, if you don't get the answer you want when you call the first time, hang up and call back. They used to say that if you put a thousand monkeys in front of a thousand keyboards, they'd eventually re-create the works of William Shakespear. Well, I think they formed cable companies instead.

I tried finding a local number for one of their local offices (Tacoma or Auburn) but could only find the 1-800 number. Maybe I'll just pop by tomorrow and see if I can fenagle a couple of cable cards from them. :-)

Did you ask on the phone if you can pick them up? I asked that when I first got my Comcast DVR, and they said, "no problem." At least when I call, the callcenter I get is in Everett (I think), and they at least roughly know what's going on at the local stores (though they claimed to have no way to find out if they actually have things in stock).

They basically told me that I can do pretty much anything equipment-related by coming in to the office instead of having a tech come. And, while I'm not a big Comcast fan, I have to give credit where it is due: they've always been friendly and helpful when I've gone in.

Best Buy just got them in today and hadn't even put them on the shelf or made a sign for them. $870.00 out the door including tax. Checked with Circuit City and they said they won't be getting them in until mid October. This is at the Southcenter shopping mall in case anyone from Seattle area wants to know.

Heh. Clearly the guy I talked to at the Bellevue BestBuy was wrong about the timing (he said none of the area stores would have them for a week or a week and a half). I wonder if Bellevue has them now too. The online availability thing still says "unavailable" for SouthCenter and every other BB in the area.

I guess tonight I may have to try to make a trip south. Unfortunately, I have a whole bunch of other stuff going on, so I'm not sure I'll have time.

I'm in the Boston area, and started the process.
At this point, I'm waiting on her to contact Marketing and get back to me. I will try again tomorrow if I don't hear from her.

If anyone has any advise on how to handle this... I'm all ears.

My advice, call Comcast back and talk to a different person, or just stop by your local office. I work for a local Boston area company that is "in the know" of lots of things Comcast. CableCards are supposed to be free and the install is supposed to $5 from Comcast.

My advice, call Comcast back and talk to a different person, or just stop by your local office.

Wow, and I thought all my days of "CSR Roulette" would end if I left DirecTV.

One thing that might explain the different policies: I remember years ago our local cable company was actually a franchise, subject to corporate policy but otherwise locally owned and operated. Our franchise owner was an idiot, and I actually cited him as the reason we switched to DirecTV.

I don't know if Comcast has changed things since then, or if they're still a bunch of little independent fiefdoms, but if they are and haven't set a corporate-level CableCARD policy, that would explain the incredible disparity.

Our local Comcast was recently Time-Warner, and apparently they haven't gotten the memo yet (their web site is still under Time-Warner, and if you go to Comcast's web site and put in your Minneapolis ZIP Code, it says that this is not an area they service). So I'm guessing that they have yet to adopt Comcast's corporate culture, unless Comcast's corporate culture involves complete cluelessness...

As my S3 is officially in transit (should arrive Saturday or Monday) I thought that it would be advisable to attempt getting some CC's before it actually arrived. I'm fortunate to live fairly close to a Comcast office (1350 East Miller Ave.) here in Salt Lake City and as such headed there today at lunch. I figured at worst the outcome of my visit would result in having wasted my time scheduling an "install" in person.

Based on reading some of the other CC threads here, I feel very lucky. I can say in no uncertain terms that it was an absolute breeze getting my 2 CC's. I was in and out of the Comcast office (minus standing in line) in less than 5 minutes. The employee helping me out was extremely nice, seemed to know exactly what CC's were and everything else. He even explained that I wouldn't have access to PPV, their online guide and that I would have to call after installing the cards to have them activated. He even gave me a sheet with the phone number that I needed to call for the CC activation, etc.... (I knew all of that, but nevertheless, he was clearly very aware of how CC installations work.)

In short, there appears to be no fee whatsoever for the cards amazingly enough. (For now I am keeping our current STB in case there is some problem getting the S3 setup and working properly. If all goes well, I'll be returning that and saving some money!) There was definitely no extra outlet fee for the second card as I briefly explained that both CC's were going in the same "TV." I will confirm all of this and report back when I get my next bill.

This is just my personal take on the situation, but my advice would be not to bother mentioning that the cards are "for your TiVo" if at all possible. I think it potentially adds unnecessary confusion to the situation. It also seems to me that if you can manage it, going to a Comcast office in person gives you a much better chance of getting your cards sans installation fees, avoiding hassles with poorly informed CSR's and the like.

Anyway... That is my story from here in SLC, Utah. Good luck to the rest of you Comcast customers getting your CC's. I'm excited to post a review of my S3 when I actually have it hooked up and running. Had I known getting the CC's was going to go so smoothly, I'd have splurged for the next day shipping!

First CableCard: Free
Second CableCard: $2.95/mo
Installation (both): $14.95 (he set it up as an HDTV upgrade installation instead of CableCard installation)

No fuss over the Tivo Series 3. The guy actually said he was waiting for his to arrive! He searched for about 10 minutes trying to find a special code to see if he could get the second card free, but no luck. No pressure to upgrade from Digital Plus to Silver, Gold, etc., and no pressure at all to get the Comcast DVR.

Can't wait to finally make use of my HDTV!

__________________Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

So far, I'm on an HR10-250 w/ D*, but when it dies, I'm looking to jump to an S3 and ComCast. So, I'm just trying to get an idea if CC is available from ComCast, (apparently yes) and whether it works with S3 (also apparently yes).

I'm hoping that by the time my HR10-250 dies, the price of the S3 will drop a bit....

It's on the west side of 28th between Arapahoe and Canyon, in the same strip mall with Video Station. The woman I got didn't know anything about the Tivo series 3, but she knew what cable cards were and wasn't confused about anything. I even asked if there was an extra charge to get HD, and she said no.

I spoke with Comcast in Denver today (Rob in Technical Support/Sales Support) and was told that the cards are free. I can pick them for a "digital self install" at no charge. The full HD package with HBO/Starz was 85/month (plus all the other HD and std channgels)...

so I then said: its just 85/month total? their answer was no. There is a service fee of 9.95 for each card per month. so add 19.90/month.

So my question now is whether the charges for cable cards were negotiated by Comcast with each Metropolitan entity as a part of their overall agreeement for the service they provided to each area....

I called comcast locally and nationally and was told that the cards will not work in the series 3 for my area which is Woodbridge VA. Tivo said that is not correct and will try to help when our series 3 arrives. Has any one else tried from this area?

So my question now is whether the charges for cable cards were negotiated by Comcast with each Metropolitan entity as a part of their overall agreeement for the service they provided to each area....

Don't know if this is true for all areas, but I've read my local municipality agreement with Comcast. Here the fees are set and on-file with the FCC. In fact the local agreement defers to the FCC rates for all rate issues. YMMV.

__________________
-Homie

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I am a DirecTV user with an HDR10-250 and I just ordered Comcast service in Sudbury, West of Boston. My Series 3 (via CC) will be delivered Monday and Comcast will be installed Wednesday.

I took advantage of the cable-dish give back and I will give Comcast a 9 year old RCA DirecTV receiver and get a $25 per month service credit. For a bit, I will keep and compare the PQ on the two services.

I have an Anthem D2 pre pro and as my friend ManWithA Plan has indicated on AVS:

Quote:

The new Tivo Series 3 HD box is available now, and has a multitude of different video output settings, including one that is intriguing to us D2 owners called "Native Mode". Native Mode allows the native broadcast resolution to be sent to the D2 in every case, allowing the Gennum scaler to deinterlace and/or scale to the appropriate video output for your display. This may not seem like an earth-shattering new feature, but for those of us who have had DirecTiVo HR10-250's, the satellite-based Tivo, we have all suffered with the pain and crappy HD picture that results from NOT having the capability for a "Native Mode". [You could choose 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i, but it was a manual choice, never done "Natively" as you flip around to different channels].

So, to give an example, the Series 3 will receive my Comcast broadcast of ESPN-HD in 720p, and not try to scale it or anything, but will send the 720p native broadcast on to the D2 via HDMI for proper scaling by the D2. Similarly, if I then change the channel to Discovery HD Theater, the Series 3 will now just pass that native 1080i signal on to the D2 for proper deinterlacing....and so on...

So, I have two cablecards coming with the first free and the second $2.75 per month. I will have full Platinum and 4 HD movie channels and I will be paying a good deal less than DTV with 2 HD movie channels (for up to 16 months if I keep the Comcast service) And now my wife will stop giving me s_ _t when there is no pixelization on Fox.

I went down to the local Comcast office yesterday and the person told me CableCARDS are available only by technician visit, which costs $16.95 w/ no charge for the cards.

I called to setup an appointment today, and I was told installation would be $18.95 + $5 for HD service + $6.95 for the 2nd CableCARD. I can let the install fee slide, and even the 2nd card charge since their FAQ states a possible additional outlet fee for it. However, I'm going to fight the $5 HD service fee. I'm already paying for digital cable service, so it should come with that. Even their FAQ states this. Interestingly though, the CS rep asked if this was for the TiVo S3. They much be getting a bunch of calls on this in my area (San Jose, CA).

Anyway, install is setup for 9/20! I'm a new TiVo user (been waiting for the S3), and am very excited. I got it all setup with my analog cable right now.

Or Confused
I spoke with Comcast in Denver today (Rob in Technical Support/Sales Support)
...
so I then said: its just 85/month total? their answer was no. There is a service fee of 9.95 for each card per month. so add 19.90/month.
...

I'm even more perplexed now. Following what others have done I just called 1-800-comcast instead of the denver number I called earlier today. I told the CSR that I have 1 TV and that it is an HD TV that can take two cable cards and was interested in HD service and asked simply how much would the service cost for HD and HBO with two cable cards and no box.

She said

2 Cable cards on one outlet would be free.

I asked if there were any one time or monthly fees.

She said

No one time or monthly fees they are free.

She even mentioned this is on the website but she didn't know where.

They are currently running a promotion for Digital Service with all the HD channels and HBO/Starz for 49.99. I told her I have DTV and she said there is another promotion for it at 39.99/month for the whole year if I can prove I have DTV. In the second year the price is 79.99/month but that Comcast runs at least two HD promotions every year and I can switch to those promotions at any time.

Regarding installation she said there is no self-install. The techs have to come out and install the cards in the TV and activate them.

I asked how much the install would be and she said

the install fee is waived for both of the HD promotions comcast is running.

How many different ways are there that can I buy the same thing for the same street address from the same company?

The CSR was very nice and reminded me that I would not have the digital guide, nor would I have access to any PPV channels.

If this is really the truth I shall order an S3 from Tivo and transfer my lifetime sub from my SVR-2000.